Comcast: VOD Movie Views In Our Markets Well Ahead Of Netflix's

Comcast is disputing a recent report from research firm NPD Group that found Netflix dominates the digital movie market, with the cable operator arguing the study does not provide an accurate apples-to-apples comparison between the companies' services.

NPD, in a report released March 15, said Netflix's share of the digital movie market was 61% between January and February 2011, followed by Comcast at 8%. According to NPD, there was a three-way tie for third place, with DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Apple at 4%.

Comcast said the NPD analysis is flawed. That's because, according to the MSO, the research firm's VideoWatch Digital tracker includes all the movies streamed via Netflix's on-demand service -- but includes only movies from cable, satellite or telco TV providers for which an additional per-movie fee is charged.

If the number of views for Comcast's free and premium VOD movies were included, Comcast would have 54% share all movie viewing versus 31% for Netflix in the operator's markets, the cable company said.